Product Description
For Fauziya Kassindja, an idyllic childhood in Togo, West Africa, sheltered from the tribal practices of polygamy and genital mutilation, ended with her beloved father's sudden death. Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare for kakia, the ritual also known as female genital mutilation. It is a ritual no woman can refuse. But Fauziya dared to try.

This is her story--told in her own words--of fleeing Africa just hours before the ritual kakia was to take place, of seeking asylum in America only to be locked up in U.S. prisons, and of meeting Layli Miller Bashir, a law student who became Fauziya's friend and advocate during her horrifying sixteen months behind bars. Layli enlisted help from Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law and acting director of the American University International Human Rights Clinic. In addition to devoting her own considerable efforts to the case, Musalo assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya's behalf. Ultimately, in a landmark decision in immigration history, Fauziya Kassindja was granted asylum on June 13, 1996. Do They Hear You When You Cry is her unforgettable chronicle of triumph.

Amazon.com Review
Fauziya Kassindja describes her upbringing in a small Western Africa village as "part modern, part traditional, and Muslim throughout." Her Muslim father did not force his daughters to wear veils and encouraged their individualism. Most importantly, Kassindja's father instilled in her a distrust and fear of female circumcision, a controversial procedure still performed in many parts of the world. Tragically for Fauziya, he would die an untimely death, but his emphatic disgust at this dangerous and life-threatening operation had a remarkable effect on his daughter. She would flee the country just hours before her own circumcision, eventually arriving in the United States, where she faced an immigration nightmare.

Fauziya recounts her harrowing ordeals in both Africa and the United States with eloquence and remarkable depth. Her initial naïveté in assuming that she would automatically gain asylum only adds to the tragedy of her story, as she instead faces isolation and religious persecution in high-security prisons. She graphically describes the horrors of strip searches and a terrible sickness that was ignored by prison staff.

This is a book of unspeakable despair put into words as well as a remarkable friendship forged between Fauziya and her lawyer (and contributing editor) Layli Miller Bashir, who was at the fore of Fauziya's case and brought national attention to the plight of these females seeking asylum. Fauziya gained her political asylum in June 1996, but the book ends on a cautionary note; the immigration process for these women is still arduous and often unsuccessful.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 53 reviews)

Do They Hear You When You Cry

This is the biography of Fauziya Kassindja, born into the tribes of Tchamba and Koussountu in Togo. Her father raised his family with a much more liberal view of Islam than his older brother and sister held. Fauziya's older sisters married before her father's death without having to endure the ritual of kakia, female circumcision, from which her father had also protected his wife. When Fauziya was sixteen, attending school in Ghana, her father died as a result of a bad asthma attack. She was permitted by her father's brother to finish that year of school but was not permitted to return for the following year, which would have been her senior year of high school. Instead, she was sold in marriage to a man old enough to be her father, a man with three wives already, a man who demanded she undergo kakia. With the help of her older sister Ayisha, Fauziya fled Togo, coming eventually to the United States, where she requested political asylum. The majority of the book follows her fight to gain political asylum to avoid being returned to Togo, her "husband" (although she had never signed the marriage contract!), and the ritual she feared. The book explains the legal battles to have Female Genital Mutilation recognized as a legitimate reason to request political asylum. Well-written, the book reads like a novel and would make a good movie.
October 07, 2008

amazing story

wow! this story has really touched me words cannot express how this pains me on what's happening in these countries...this needs to stop!!!!female mulitation is a crime itself..Fauziya you are a strong woman. wanted to give up but you continued to keep going it. That itself is strenght
June 08, 2008

Excellent Memoir

This is the rare type of a book that transcends age, gender, and sex. To read this book is to realise the startling realities of the way America treats immigrants attempting to apply for amnesty. One of the best books I have read this year.
March 28, 2007

Poignant, Spiritual, Educational.

When Fauziya flees the injustices of her African country to seek asylum in America, little does she know that she is jumping from the frying pan into the fire. This book details the underbelly of a prison and a justice system that treat detainees like dirt. But amidst this squalor of human indignity there are angels. Angels appear both in and out of the prison. Some give her sustenance in prison; others work tirelessly for her release, and still others use the news media to highlight the injustices meted out to her.
What a book!
November 22, 2006

Heartbreaking but inspiring memoir.

Fauziya Kassindja tells the reader a heartbreaking but inspiring story of her frightful journey towards freedom. Fauziya grew up in the small African town of Togo. Her family was somewhat untraditional in the sense of following some of the major muslim customs pertaining to women. Her father did not believe that his daughters should have to wear veils or be subject to prearranged marriages to name a few. Most of all he was very opposed to the tribal custom of female genital mutilation (fgm).

After Fauziya's father passed away, she soon found herself in the custody of her aunt and uncle who set her up for a prearranged marriage which would also require her to suffer fgm.

Fauziya soon finds herself fleeing from Africa to escape this fate. She comes to the United States to seek political asylum. Her journey is shocking, heartbreaking, and inspiring. Definitely a page turner. This young lady had a lot of courage that will help many women in similar situations. A must read.

September 28, 2006

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